Friday 17th April
Happy Friday everyone! Yesterday, the blog featured the inspirational Captain Tom Moore and he now he has raised over £18million for the NHS. The generosity of people continues to amaze me everyday. Did you stand on your doorstep last night and clap for our NHS heroes and other key workers? I did, as did lots of the staff members at Olive Hill.
Captain Moore has been raising money by walking around his garden each day and that had us all reflecting on the walks we have been on as part of our daily exercise. Have you been on any nice walks? We have seen some of you on your daily walk as you come past the school.
I have been walking around my local area - I have discovered two golf courses and some absolutely beautiful buildings. Mrs Hackett was really keen for us to share the joys of walking and being out in the fresh air, she has discovered some lovely trails within walking distance of her house and her daughter absolutely loves exploring them. Mrs Shinner has also been walking as part of her daily exercise, often searching for leaves for the stick insects. Mrs Shinner’s son likes to run about whilst her daughter is pushed along in her trike. Mr Priest’s daughter also has a trike and she enjoys going out for daily walks with her mummy and daddy pushing her along, she does enjoy stretching her own legs as well. Mr Priest particularly enjoyed his walk around Netherton reservoir yesterday. Mrs Dudley says that she only walking she is doing is to the fridge! A few other staff members agreed with her! Miss Best feels she is walking up and down the stairs a lot.
Mrs Higgins decided to mix it up and go on a bike ride with her children (her children are way too old for a trike, I’m not even sure they’d be that pleased about being called children). Anyway, they kept asking Mrs Higgins why she was wobbling everywhere and why she was so slow - Mrs Higgins has decided that it is best if she sticks to walking in the future. Mrs Waters has been taking her dog, Teddy, for walks around Himley - I believe he is very well behaved.
Talking of well-behaved things, lots of the staff posted pictures of their children looking all beautiful on their daily walks and you have all appeared to be very well behaved and happy when you have walked past the school. This is a very good thing, but it did make me think about the last time I took my nieces, nephew and partner’s children for a walk - it certainly wasn’t as easy as it looks in the all pictures I have seen. Maybe your grown-ups will be able to sympathise with me. When I am at home in Wales I live really close to the beach, so we often walk to the beach for a couple of hours. Before our country went into lockdown, I took Sofia, Saffy, Soren, Lloyd and Lucas for a walk. It was a really windy day - that was problem number one - Soren does not like the wind and he told me I was scaring him; when we got to the beach there were lots of dogs - that was problem number two - Saffy doesn’t like dogs and apparently I was terrifying her; we came off the beach, to get away from the dogs, and walked around the headland - problem number three - Sofia and Lucas kept running in front and I wanted them to stay close; problem number four arose when we went looking for crabs in the rock pools, our feet got wet. In the end, we went to a café - but it was full of dogs! I had terrified Saffy again. But, we did all have a lovely hot chocolate and a break from the windy weather. After our hot chocolate, we went to meet Lloyd in the arcades - this is where the problems started again - they wanted money, they got upset when then didn’t win a prize, they wanted more money (I can imagine some of your grown-ups nodding along to this). Anyway, I eventually ran out of money and I was exhausted so I decided we should go home. After much sulking about going home, we left the arcades and it started hailing! Let’s just say I slept very well that evening and I haven’t been for a walk with them all since!
When I shared this story with the staff, they did all admit that everything isn’t always as it looks in the photographs. Mr Priest has to bribe his daughter with snacks and use songs as a distraction and Miss Hackett admitting to having to carry her daughter a fair way.
We would love to hear any funny stories from your daily walks. Are you well-behaved? Do you need bribing? Are your grown-ups exhausted at the end of it? Email us at: children@olive.dudley.sch.uk
Remember to the follow the social distancing rules when you are out walking. It is super important that we all keep each other safe and help stop the spread of coronavirus.
Have a great weekend. We miss you all.
Stay safe.